Living Positively
Agnes (not her real name) lives in a camp for internally displaced people at Ngariam Corner in Uganda. Agnes is a disabled woman who is also HIV positive.
There were once 700 people living at Ngariam Corner. Recently the distribution of food has stopped and families encouraged to return to their homes. Agnes is one of the 200 people who remain in the camp unable to return to the home she was forced to leave.
So for now the camp is Agnes' home and she does what she can to make a difference to her life and the lives of others. Agnes earns the money to pay her daughters school fees by cooking and selling mandazi, a small fried cake similar to a doughnut, for 50 Shillings a bag (approximately 2p). And in her role as chairperson of KAWIDA, a disabled women’s organisation that ADD International supports, Agnes has helped organise for AIDS organisations to come to the camp and provide regular, free testing and treatment for HIV positive people living in the camp.
Agnes is positive about the future: “when you live positively, you change your ways and you value life more. I have become much more quiet and calm. You won't believe it, but before I could be very rude, I could really shout, but not now. I am a better person now than before.”
Please click on the links below for further information about refugees.
The United Nations Refugee Agency
United Nations Rights of Refugees with Disabilities
Disabled refugees struggling in Uganda camps (September 2008)
Governments and aid agencies overlook disabled refugees (June 2008)